Tag Archives: Nanotech

When I first heard about Fusionopolis, I thought it sounded like it was going to be some sort of science theme park when we arrived there in the morning, I was a tad disappointed that it wasn’t a theme park, but it was pretty awesome anyways. They had some pretty futuristic technologies there, we were given an introduction to the place with a hologram movie, and they had other cool things, such as; a game you use your brain waves to control, a smart hospital bed that can non invasively detect vital signs and many other things. Although Fusionopolis wasn’t a theme park, I still enjoyed it.

Sky Garden - Fusionopolis

We returned to Utown, changed into more comfortable clothing and then had lunch, then headed to the science building to meet with the biodiversity group to go to the zoo. We were given a behind the scenes tour of the zoo, which we were shown the kitchen area, and in the wet kitchen there was a dismembered horse which was pretty discussing, and we were shown the animal hospital area, they have 10,000 animals at the zoo and only 8 hospital staff to care for the animals which is pretty amazing.

After the tour we were free to wander around the zoo, I enjoyed some parts, such as the flight area, that had lemurs in it, they were really friendly and you could even pet them. Other parts of the zoo I didn’t like, like the polar bear enclosure, the bear wasn’t in a cooled environment and the bear didn’t look very happy in the heat, and the trip has changed my perspective on zoos. I have never really liked zoos, as the animals are restricted and I think that if we want to see these kinds of animals, we should see them in their natural environment, not in a man made enclosure. I feel also if that were the way we saw animals, people would be much more aware of the need to conserve natural habitats, such as the deforestation to plant palm oil tress which has greatly affected many species.

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Today we’re going to Republic Polytechnic and then the aquarium. I had to get up at 6am, which is way too early to meet with the rest of the group by 7.15. I cooked bacon for breakfast this morning, which was yum.

We arrived at Republic Polytechnic and we were greeted by the Republic poly students that we hosted when they came to La Trobe University. We had a tour around their campus, they have pretty amazing facilities, including an aircraft hanger with a private jet, two smaller planes inside it, and a control tower simulator of the Changi airport.

We then had to quickly rush back to our accommodation to get changed and then caught the shuttle bus back to the science department. Once there, I was pretty hungry so I quickly ran over to the food court and brought some spring rolls and chicken curry puffs. We met with some other students, some from California, Hong Kong and Western Australia.

We went with the other students to Santosa island to the aquarium, where we had a backstage tour of the aquarium, which was pretty interesting, I even got to feed some fish! They also have the second largest viewing tank in the world which spans 36 metres and is 8 metres high.

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Today we did our first group activity, which was visiting the Marina Bay, and the Gardens by the Bay. The day started for me at 8am, I got up and got dressed and attempted to find something to eat, which was suprisingly difficult. I ended up having spring rolls, there was one breakfast option which was toast with what I thought was raw egg to dip in, which didn’t look very appetising.

After breakfast I met up with the rest of the group and as we were preparing to leave we experienced our first crazy change in wearger as a tropical thunderstorm unleased on Singapore. We caught the shuttle bus to the trainstation, the train ride into the city was pretty uneventful, but the public transport system is amazingly clean and punctual.

We got off at Raffles station and walked along Marina Bay to look across to the Marina Bay Sands, the arcitechture of the building was amazing and it has a very commanding presence amongst the other skyscapers around it, it was very impressive. After we took photos of the bay it was about 12 pm, it was time for lunch, so we headed over to the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. I had some beef Singapore fried noodles which were delicious, and then had a wander around the shopping complex which was full of designer shops.

Next on the agenda was to visit the Gardens by the Bay, walking toward the area you are greeted by lushious greenery and huge purple towers that look like they are from a futuristic movie.

There are two different domes at Garden by the Bay, one called the Flower dome, which was the first one that the group went in. The Flower Dome was slightly cooler and less humid than outside which was good, the Flower Dome was okay, it was like most other gardens basically. The other garden is called the Cloud Dome, which was much more interesting than the Flower Dome. When entering the Cloud Dome younare greeted by a waterfall/cliff face that is 35 metres high, and covered in tropical plants. There was a skywalk around the top of the waterfall which gave a nice perspective of the whole garden area.

After the Cloud Dome we were free to go off on our own, and I went back to the shopping centre and then went back to my room.

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My plane flight was delayed two hours, so I arrived in Sinapore later than expected. The flight was the longest flight I’ve ever been on and it wasn’t as bad as I expected, there was a four year old boy infront of me but he was pretty friendly and never cried which was good. On arriving at the Changi airport I had to convince myself that it was going to be hot outside, but I couldn’t prepare myself for the humidity.

The airport didn’t seem much different to Australia, except for the customer feedback tablets where you rate your experience with the service. I waited at the airport for Trey’s flight to arrive and then we caught a taxi to the backpackers that we’re staying at for the first couple of nights. I like that there are black and white stripes oainted on most of the gutters, it feels like your in a racing game.

We arrived at the backpackers which is in little India and I had pretty high expectations on the cleanliness of the city, and from what I’ve seen so far, little India hasnt’t lived up to what I expected. The food so far has been good, I had the best mie goreng noodles I’ve ever had and it only cost $3.

For the rest of the day I’ll probably just have a walk around the area and try to have a good sleep.